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Fri, 18 Aug 2017 04:53:18 +0000Joomla! - Open Source Content Managementen-gb[Infographic] Social Media Explained (With Coffee)http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/infographic-social-media-explained-with-coffee
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/infographic-social-media-explained-with-coffeeI was inspired by the viral image of the white board and donut analogy... I wanted to share something prettier than a white board... and I like coffee more than donuts. So here you go!
Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)Social Media 101Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000How Come so few of my fans are seeing my posts?http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/how-come-so-few-of-my-fans-are-seeing-my-posts
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/how-come-so-few-of-my-fans-are-seeing-my-postsThis is a much longer blog than my normal marketing rants. But I feel the need to pipe in and comment! I hear this all the time from my clients, “No one is commenting”, or “How come my fans are not participating”, or “How come none of my fans can see my posts”…
Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)Social Media 101Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000[Infographic] 5 Social Media Marketing Mistakes http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/5-mistakes-social-media-infographic
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/5-mistakes-social-media-infographic

Jumping Into Social Media without a Plan!

Many companies and small business owners dive into social media because they know everyone else is doing it... so they haphazardly start creating Facebook Pages, Twitter Profiles, YouTube channels and accounts to any – and sometimes every – social network they can find.

There are two facts to keep in mind when it comes to social media and small business. First, there will always be a new network to get involved with. Secondly, a small business owner has a limited amount of time and money to devote to social media.

Doing social media well doesn’t mean you need to be anywhere and everywhere. Instead, it’s about choosing one or two of the most relevant and effective channels for reaching your customers and focusing on them. It’s actually better to not have an account if you don’t have the time and resources to actively manage it and participate

READ MORE: How to Create a Social Media Plan

You Focus on YOURSELF! (Or Your Company)

Face it. Your clients are selfish. They do not care about you – they are about what you can do for them. Think about how painful it is to be stuck at a cocktail party, talking to that self-absorbed person who only talks about him or herself. (Or who spends thier time trying to convince you to join their MLM) Small businesses need to treat social media like a cocktail party among friends. To be liked, you’ve got to be gracious, genuinely interested in others, and not dominate the conversation.

Posting the SAME content on all profiles and channels

I am a HUGE fan of social media and marketing automation. I love products like HootSuite and my favorite, SproutSocial. But nothing makes you look more like a robot then when the same content is repeated across all channels. Sometimes you will have the same people following you on Twitter and Facebook, but many times different people prefer different types of social networks.

Twitter is NOT the same as Facebook. Twitter and Facebook are two distinct networks with two distinct sets of etiquette and norms. The people you’re connected to on Twitter expect different things than those you’re connected to on Facebook (even if most of them are the same group of people). The culture of both networks is different, so if you combine them you risk losing your audience.

Twitter also moves at a faster pace and has a much higher threshold for acceptable posting levels than Facebook. That means that you may tweet as many as 10-15 times a day, without showing up excessively in any of your followers’ feeds.

READ MORE: Twitter is NOT the same as Facebook

Never creating original content

Yeh, I know it’s cool to pass on those funny memes and eCards and graphical quotes… but if you are only posting articles, pictures, and graphics that originate from a website other than your own. You are driving traffic only to the person who created the content.

When you see a motivational quote or a great info graphic that has 10,000+ shares, go ahead and get jealous. Get motivated and create your own awesome content. Give your Facebook Fans, Blog Followers, and Pinterest Pinners reason to keep coming back for more!

Thinking Social Media is FREE Marketing

While you may be able to create a Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ profile for free, unless you think your time (or your employee’s time) is worthless then Social Media Marketing is NOT free. A well-executed social media plan takes time and planning. Social media requires constant commitment, from keeping fresh content on your accounts to engaging your community.

I you build it/post it/tweet it/share it (etc.) they will come - does not always apply. You might also want to consider costs of short term lead generation by paying for LinkedIn or Facebook advertising.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)Social Media 101Fri, 17 Aug 2012 02:42:33 +0000Facebook Status Updates Are not Written in Pencilhttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/facebook-status-updates-are-not-written-in-pencil
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/facebook-status-updates-are-not-written-in-pencilOk so I totally stole that line from “The Social Network”. In the film, Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend is yelling at him for calling him a B**** on in his blog, she screams “The Internet is not written in Pencil, Mark, it’s written in ink!” That line has always stuck with me! I find it a little worrisome that many people do not understand that the internet is public. Once you put it out there, you can never get it back.

I’m not an expert in psychology, but I think that is human nature to want to vent. I think that venting is good – but inappropriate venting on the internet, regardless of the social medium, is BAD.

I love a good (healthy) political debate. And unlike many bloggers and social experts, I also love mommy-pictures and cute animals. However, my number one pet peeve is Blog posts/status updates/Tweets that use inappropriate language and curse words or that are slanderous and mean.

People are judged by the words that they wear.

It seems that internet users forget that people are judged by the words that they wear. We all know that language helps distinguish and identify groups of people – language can tell us a lot about a person. An accent may tell us the region that the speaker hails from, their economic status, or what his or her original language.

Vocabulary and grammar that a blogger/ tweeter/ status-updater uses can give us a clue whether he or she is an expert in their given field, how much education the person has had, if he or she has respect for the person or topic that is being discussed, or the speaker's economic status.

Using Profanity makes you look F—ing Stupid

Many people who forget their manners when posting to their various platforms. Friends write on other peoples wall with a multitude of swearwords and inappropriate remarks. Insensitive pictures or topics are ranted about in blogs. People curse each other out on Twitter or slam colleagues. The Internet shouldn’t be a hateful, improper, rant-fest of swears, poor grammar, and insults.

The use of profanity often marks the speaker in a number of ways. It makes the speaker appear to be uneducated. Using the F-word rather than other, more creative vocabulary implies that the speaker is not aware of other words that can be used. This shows that the speaker was never taught vocabulary and as such is likely unable to use the English language well in addition to looking like a rude jerk.

You need to be respectful of others online.

You cannot post about how much you hate someone, make fun of everything about them, and expect it to be ok. For one, if it is coworker or employer, they may find said post and you’ll be out of work. Even if the object of your cuss-filled rant is not someone you work with, you could find yourself unemployed if your job has a social media policy.

Two, they may be deeply hurt and affected by the attack. And three, it makes you seem like a bad, uncaring person with nothing better to do than bring others down. Like mom always said to politely use please and thank you, online you must politely respect others. Tweet them with respect, post on their Facebook walls with tact. A little respect and manners can get you a long way in life–offline and on.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)Social Media 101Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:12:07 +0000Why is Guru a Four Letter Word?http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/why-is-guru-a-four-letter-word?
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/why-is-guru-a-four-letter-word?When I was in grade school I remember listening to a Children’s radio station (Radio Disney – are they still around?) that played a song that went something like this:

“Don’t play with Bruno, Bruno is a Dweeb, but what is a Dweeb – oh you know, Like Bruno” (I will find a YouTube version of the song and post below)

This song popped into my head as I was surfing other marketing advice blogs.

I keep reading blogs and seeing pay-per-click ads that offer miscellaneous training, coaching or learning programs from “regular guys. No Gurus. No BS”… WHHAAT?? No Gurus No BS?!

Then the Bruno song started playing in my head… kind of.

First of all, let’s define “guru”. The Yodas over at Wikipedia say:

The word guru, a noun, means "teacher" in Sanskrit and in other languages derived from or borrowing words from Sanskrit. As a noun the word means the imparter of knowledge. As an adjective, it means 'heavy,' or 'weighty,' in the sense of "heavy with knowledge," or "heavy with a wealth of knowledge."

I do not think there is anything wrong with being a teacher, or being heavy with the wealth of knowledge. I, for one, am extremely proud of the knowledge of internet marketing and client attraction that I have acquired over the years – and I am continuously seeking out other sources to see how their strategies and tactics may differ from my own. As I gain a greater wealth of knowledge, I make it my mission to disseminate my knowledge to my peers, clients, and prospects. (It’s also my mission to use words like disseminate as frequently as possible)

I also believe that the evolution of the way that information is spread across the internet begs for gurus. Gurus in all fields. If you want people to like, comment, and share your content – then go ahead and be a guru. And be proud of being a guru. After all you do want to be “Business Famous” (I think Laura Roder, coined that term) and you want to be the go-to-person in your given field … right? You want to be top of mind whenever your prospect thinks about plumbing, or yoga, or chiropractic, or air conditioning, or real estate, or whatever niche makes you get out of bed in the morning.

My advice: go ahead and become and expert. “Brag” about being an expert. And get your followers to “Brag” for you… attracting more clients is all about getting people to know, like and understand your and your value. What better way to do this then to become a guru.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)MarketingTue, 15 May 2012 19:12:12 +0000Ad Planner tool helps Build Brand Awarenesshttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/ad-planner-tool-helps-build-brand-awareness
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/ad-planner-tool-helps-build-brand-awarenessMany marketers today think of banner ads as the advertising tool of yesterday. When the Internet first took off, banner advertising was popular and in demand. As people started to develop "banner blindness" and started ignoring ads, the popularity of banner advertising has declined.

Because of retargeting, the reality is that not only do banner ads still work - they're one of the most powerful mediums to use to advertise online. Google ad planner and Google Content Network are great tools to use, confused? Don’t worry; Marketplace Maven can help with this.

A great way to get your brand in front of a lot of people online is through banner advertising. If you want to advertise to medical sites, for example, banner advertising is the only way you can get on WebMD and the Mayo Clinic.

While "banner blindness" is still an issue, there are now tools that will combat it. For one, prices of banner ads have dropped significantly since the Internet has matured, more than compensating for the reduced visibility. Secondly, the ad planner and the Google Content Network tool is an added benefit because you can focus on whom you are targeting. Another great tool to use to overcome "banner Blindness" is retargeting. It can help you get your banner in front of just the right people to create conversions.

Getting Started with Banner Branding

To get started with banner advertising, first begin by figuring out your target demographic. Get as specific as you possibly can.

Go to the Google Ad Planner and type in your demographic, as well as the type of site you want to target.

Browse through all the high traffic sites this brings up. Visit the sites and evaluate whether or not it would make sense for you to advertise on that site.

Contact the site directly and ask for a rate card. The rate card will contain the website's advertising rates. Keep in mind that nobody pays the amount on the rate card and the discounts can be negotiated.

Once you're ready to place an ad buy, you'll need to sign what's called an insertion order. The insertion order, or "IO" as it's called in the industry, will have all the details of your advertising terms.

Instead of dealing with individual sites, you can also choose to deal with large advertising networks. These networks will place ad buys for you instead of you doing all the work of figuring out site demographics. See how important the ad planner tool is?

Why Retargeting Works for Small Business Owners

Want to give the impression that you're a big brand advertising all over the internet - without having to spend money? Use retargeting!

Retargeting is when you use a small snippet of code to place a cookie in your visitor's browser when they visit your website. You can also place the code on your Facebook page, so anyone who visits your page will have the retargeting cookie.

Now instead of using the ad planner tool you use the Google Content Network to bid on ads that only appear to people who have that cookie. To these people, it'll seem like they're constantly seeing your ad. For you however, you're still only paying a very modest cost per impression or CPM.

Banner advertising is here to stay so use the tools available like the ad planner and the Google Content Network to maximize your effectiveness. It's one of the fastest and most effective ways to reach a broad audience online. With retargeting by using the Google content network, you can make your brand seem extremely large without having to actually blanket the web with advertisements.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)MarketingFri, 11 May 2012 16:45:00 +0000Facebook Ads for Brandinghttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/facebook-ads-for-branding
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/facebook-ads-for-brandingThere are few platforms on the Internet with demographic data as accurate as Facebook. Unlike data from other sites, like Google or Advertising.com, Facebook users actually provide all their demographic information because it is a social media platform. As a marketer and a small business owner, that's a goldmine. A lot of advertising dollars spent on branding is wasted because people who aren’t in your target market see the ads. How many times have you seen a commercial on TV for a product you didn't care about? Facebook is different, again because it is a social media platform and the users provide the information. Facebook allows you to focus your branding in to only your target market. Your brand will be constantly exposed to the right people -while they are being social-, without you having to spend advertising dollars on the wrong people.

How Much Does CPM Advertising Cost?

Costs vary widely based on a number of different factors. Generally, to advertise in the United States with a moderate amount of demographic filters, you can expect to pay anywhere between $0.30 to $1 CPM. Knowing this will help you stay in your advertising dollars budget, but remember this is a general number, each campaign will be different. Advertising in other countries will have vastly different rates. It's generally not a good idea to lump different countries into the same campaign, or you'll have skewed results and costs. Just because Canada, Australia, the USA and the UK all speak English doesn't mean they belong in the same campaign. The number of filters you put on will also have an impact. Much like any other free market, the more competition there is to advertise to a certain demographic, the more you'll pay.

Note that if you're bidding CPM on Facebook, you'll probably get fewer clicks than if you spent the same amount of money while bidding CPC. Cost per impression Vs. Cost per Click.

How to Target the Right People

Start with the basics. What is you advertising dollars budget? What age, gender and location is your target market in? You can then narrow down your demographic further by earning power, political leanings and education. You can further narrow down your target market by targeting specific interests. Make sure to type in related interests as well. Don't just type in "branding," but also "marketing" and "promotions," for example.

Drive Traffic to Your Facebook Page

One powerful way to use Facebook as a social media platform to improve your brand is to drive traffic to your Facebook page rather than your home page.

Give people a freebie in exchange for them clicking "Like". For example, give them a 20% discount coupon or give them a free video.

Once someone has liked your post, you'll show up in your potential clients feed. Now you can get your brand in front of them time and again - for free, again using social media to be social!

You can also use connection targeting to advertise only to people who've already "liked" your page. You'll usually get a much higher ROI this way.

In addition to highly effective targeting tools, Facebook also has great and effective tracking tools. You can track exactly how many people have seen your ads and how often they've seen your ads. This is helpful so you don't go over your advertising dollars because you can adjust the ad as needed to get the results you want. When it comes to targeted branding, there are few tools as powerful as Facebook- especially because it is also a great social media platform. Confused? Don't Worry we can help. Contact Marketplace Maven Today and start brandig your business to your audience.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)MarketingFri, 11 May 2012 16:38:52 +0000Success Strategieshttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/success-strategies
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/success-strategiesBuilding a business is a fantastic and challenging experience. You can wake up exhilarated to begin your day and go to bed feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. The key to success is to maintain a powerful positive; yes you can do it, mindset.Easier said than done, right? Here are some tips to help you create and sustain a powerful positive mindset so you attain the success you desire.

Surround yourself with successful and positive people. The influence people have over our own personal energy is amazing. Moods and attitudes are so easily spread. Think about how much of a difference a simple smile from a stranger can make for your day and then magnify it 1000 times to demonstrate the power of positive and successful friends, family and associates. When you have people around you who inspire you, believe in you and want you to succeed, there is no room for doubts and even when they creep up, they're quickly swept away.

Create a mantra or positive affirmations. Repeating positive affirmations has been shown to get people through tough times and to actually help them truly believe what they're saying.

For example, I am building a powerful and profitable business. Many of the most esteemed business professionals have used the same positive affirmations strategy to attain their success. To find the right positive affirmation for you, consider writing a quick list of your doubts, insecurities and complaints. These can then be quickly turned into positive affirmations.

For example, if you write that you're always feeling disorganized or you never get the clients your looking for then your positive affirmations would be, I am organized and in control and I always get the clients I'm looking for. Repeat your positive affirmations several times a day and feel the power of positive thinking.

Capture negative thoughts. We all have negative thoughts from time to time, however, negative thoughts and emotions can derail us and prevent us from achieving all we desire. Of course catching those negative thoughts takes practice and persistence. When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts or having negative emotions, find a trigger to turn them around. The affirmations mentioned above are a powerful way to turn the negative into the positive. You can also find quick pick me ups like a favorite song, a walk outside in the fresh air, or some exercise to help improve your mood.

Be grateful. Gratitude is perhaps the single most powerful and positive tool for success. When you're grateful for all of the wonderful things and people in your life the challenges you face seem significantly less important and are more easily dealt with. Consider keeping a gratitude journal and make a practice of entering into it daily. That way, when you're facing challenges a quick peek at all the amazing things in your life will make you feel as if you can tackle anything. Additionally, an attitude of gratitude helps you maintain a positive perspective and to face challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.

Success is within your reach and with the right attitude you can accomplish anything you set your sights on. Embrace these powerful mind success strategies and you'll build a better business and live a happier, more satisfying life.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)MarketingThu, 03 May 2012 18:24:19 +0000Blog for your brandhttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/blog-for-your-brand
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/blog-for-your-brandBlogs are an effective way to create an online presence for small businesses. It's a great way to increase your search engine optimization because having a blog on your business website increases traffic and awareness of your brand. A blog can be easily implemented in your website by using a content management system like Wordpress or Joomla, this implementation will keep your target audience coming back for more great content. Here are ten ideas to bring in the traffic your blog needs to survive the search engines and your target audience.

Fresh Content: No one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least weekly, your traffic will increase and target audience will be happy. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.

Article Marketing: Use your brand to it's full potential. Write articles that are related to your business and that will be useful for your target audience. Create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. Use the resource box to advertise your brand so people can find you.

Social Media: These sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, Squidoo, Twitter and/or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of like-minded people who are also small business owners and entrepreneurs.Viral Marketing: This is where you spread the word about your brand. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them.

RSS Feeds: RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online.

Submit Blog to Search Engines: Doing this allows your blog to be ranked. Google and Yahoo! are two of the most popular search engines you want to crawl your blog pages. It doesn't guarantee top ranking, though. You'll have to do a little more work for that.

Join Forums: Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of business forums; work at home forums and others to meet new people and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can find you.

Visit other blogs: Show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments.

SEO Marketing: Whatever you write, use relevant keywords. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your brand.

Social Bookmarking: Submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your brand.

Using any of these ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. It takes time but you will build the readership you want.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)MarketingThu, 03 May 2012 18:17:53 +0000Website Traffic in 5 easy stepshttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/website-traffic-in-5-easy-steps
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/website-traffic-in-5-easy-stepsOnline, one of the most significant keys to success is getting website traffic. The more visitors your target audience sees you, the better your sales and profits. Presumably you have a well-defined brand and you know what keywords your customers are searching for. You also regularly conduct keyword research to stay on top of what is popular specific to your target market. Based on those assumptions here are five quick and easy tips to get website traffic fast! If you don't have those things don't worry, Marketplace Maven can help, focus on one thing at a time and keep reading.

Tip #1 Add content to your site on a regular basis.

Content is essential for traffic and a top search engine ranking. Content is what search engine spiders look for and index - without it there is nothing to index or rank. Give your target audience and search engines a reason to visit and index your site. Make a commitment to provide consistent, optimized content and your traffic will soar.

Tip #2 Make sure you're actually tagging your keywords.

Do you spend a lot of time optimizing your content and then neglect to tag them on your web page? Tags are where search engines look and if there are no tags they'll pass right by your web pages. Here is a quick brief on tags.

There are a number of tag types including,

Title tags

Header Tags

Meta Tags

Alt Tags

The main tags you should be concerned with are the Meta Tags and the Alt Tags. The Meta tags are what keywords you are focusing on in your blog post. Most content management systems like Wordpress and Joomla have a section within the post editing view to add specific keywords that is the focus of your post. Take advantage of this section, it is there for a reason. The alt tags are for images you add to your post. This is a great tag to use because it gives your website extra searching power with the images you use.

Tip #3 Get valuable and relevant incoming links

The more websites which link to your web pages the more valuable search engines perceive you to be, though not all links are created equal. Search engines give more leverage to links from sites which are popular and credible and from sites which are relevant to your website topic.

A text link occurs when the web page address is embedded in the text. Readers simply click on the link and are redirected to a new website page.

If the link is to an internal web page, for example an article published on a website, rather than the home page, it is called a deep link.

You can encourage linking to your website by:

Adding content to your site

Submitting to article directories

Publishing press releases

Blogging and participating in social networking forums, chat rooms and social media networking sites

Tip #4 Be Social!

Now more than ever before, Internet marketing is about building a community and connecting with your target audience, we here it everywhere... Social Media. Whether you offer a forum on your website or you participate in social media networking sites, social networking is a valuable traffic generating tactic. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools for generating links and traffic to your site.

Get involved- by now you should have a social media profile... start posting comments, links to your site and ideas, which generate conversation. Many chat rooms and forums are industry specific, find those, which cater to your industry, and begin participating. Speak to and connect with your highly targeted audience. Not sure which social media platform is right for your business or your target audience? Don't worry, Marketplace Maven can help!

Tip #5 Advertise for more exposure and traffic

Advertising, when handled strategically, can be used to promote your content and products or services. PPC advertising (which stands for pay-per-click) is often the tool of choice because you control the advertising budget on a daily basis and have the tools to test and track your advertising efforts. Once you've honed your PPC ads (which can take a couple of trial runs) the return on investment can be phenomenal in terms of traffic and purchases.

For maximum results, let us create your Marketplace Maven RoadMap, which includes traffic and SEO strategy to determine what's best for your business. We can help you structure your plan and your goals and then take the necessary action to get results. Even if your not ready to start working with us on a project or monthly basis, make sure you take advantage of these five traffic and search engine tips to connect with your target audience and boost your business.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)MarketingTue, 01 May 2012 18:07:52 +0000How to search Twitter for Small Business Marketinghttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/how-to-search-twitter-for-small-business-marketing
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/how-to-search-twitter-for-small-business-marketingWith some strategy, Twitter can boost your connections and website traffic. Social Networking can be thought of as a live networking event where you can jump into a conversation at any time. It's not only a great tool for communicating information to followers but it is also for engaging with them. Twitter is no different from a live networking event. Most people, even those who are on Twitter frequently, use it only for posting content, not for starting a two-way conversation. This is equal to walking into an event and talking at people and not listening to their responses. It just doesn't work. Since we have been using Twitter, we have honed in on a few features that help small businesses make better connections and build brand exposure. Here are a few things we have learned about Twitter that could help improve your small business marketing strategy:

Use Twitter’s advanced search option to find opportunities.The advanced search opportunities atsearch.twitter.comhelps you search keywords people would use in conversations that is related to your business or topic of choice. Once you find these keywords in posts, you can reach out to the person who tweeted them to say hello, ask to connect and start building a twitter relationship. The search function also allows you to target tweets demographically so you can stay within your local community. This helps local small businesses reach out to tweeters in their area.

Tweet often to boost search-engine optimization. Tweeting often not only helps you to stay active on newsfeeds but also improves your ranking in online searches. Be sure to use keyword-rich phrases related to your small business marketing strategy in your tweets as often as possible. Each tweet is searchable within the search engines, so make them count.

Reach people on mobile phones. With mobile messaging becoming one of the best ways to connect with your target audience, an option on Twitter will allow you to have your tweets directly sent as a text to your followers. Whenever you post a tweet, if someone has subscribed to your tweets from his or her mobile device, they will automatically receive your tweets on that device.

Change post headlines each time you tweet them to boost traffic and your click rate. Increase traffic to new (or old) blog posts or other content you share on Twitter by tweeting them 10 to 20 times using slightly different headlines each time. Twitter is excellent for ongoing live traffic around the clock so posting more than once gives you a better chance of getting most of your followers to see you tweet in their newsfeed. Changing headlines can attract different people and, if you post at different times, you can reach people in more time zones.

Twitter can help you discover what your target market is talking about and searching for. And when used correctly, it can boost your connections and website traffic.

Read More]]>rachel@marketplacemaven.com (Rachel Bjerstedt)MarketingTue, 13 Mar 2012 18:36:24 +000020 Crimes Solved By Using Facebookhttp://marketplacemaven.com/blog/20-crimes-solved-by-using-facebook
http://marketplacemaven.com/blog/20-crimes-solved-by-using-facebookThis infographic is from the Criminal Justice Degrees Guide... I found it intriguing on many different levels.

1) The Nerdy Marketing side of me thought it was uber neat that they built their infographic design on the Facebook Timeline layout.

2) The civilian (and avid Criminal Minds and CSI watcher) thought it was crazy that people actually posted these things on Facebook (or any PUBLIC social networking platform)

3) Another reason to hoist up my soapbox/pulpit as I advocate to friends and family the necessity to keep thier personal profile pages as "professional" as possible! I am a advocate of a firm social media policy within an organization. Of Course, this begs the question and debate about free speech - but I believe that a business should have a code of conduct that is expected from employees and this code of conduct should roll over to the internets. (I will get on this soapbox more in another post!)

The Good, The Bad and the Not So Ugly about Facebook Timelines for Brands and Business Pages

Facebook and Business Pages! What a nightmare/dream come true… Just when you think you learned something about how to use Facebook to market your business something changes.

And now another change – Timelines for Facebook Business Pages (aka “Timelines for Brands”). If you want to preview timelines for your business visit the Timeline for Pages preview manager and select to add Timeline to your Pages.

The Good…

The Cover (My favorite thing about Facebook timelines)

Just like a personal profile, you can choose a “cover”. The Facebook Timeline cover displays a giant 851 x 315 pixel banner across the top of your Page. This is a GREAT branding opportunity. Go ahead and get crazy and have fun with graphics.

According to Tech Crunch , Covers may not display calls to action or references to Facebook features such as “Like this Page”, purchase or pricing info such as “40% off” or “Download at our website”, or contact information such as web address.

But you wouldn’t want to do that anyway – it’s a turn off! Think about the last time you went to a networking event and people kept shouting “buy from me!” Social Media Marketing is about building relationships- and letting your fans get a chance to know your brand personality

Messages

Tech Crunch also reports that, Page Timelines will allow users (fans) to send direct, private messages to your Page. This creates a new customer service channel where you can address users’ concerns without having to discuss issues publicly on your Page’s wall / Timeline. Pages cannot proactively send messages, you can only respond to users that have already contacted you.

The Bad…

Page Apps and Landing Pages.

So here is why some people are scared of Facebook Timelines for Business ; With Timelines, (as of this writing) you will not be able to set a default “landing page”

You may have heard many social media ‘gurus’ talking about the “number one Facebook error” most of these gurus and social media whiz kids are referring to the fact that Businesses on Facebook are letting their first time visitors land (by default) on their wall. (You know – the spot where you see all the status updates and posts from fans). These Facebook Marketing Junkies advocated that businesses needed to create custom landing pages for their businesses Facebook page. The goal of these landing pages was to encourage new visitors to like your page by trading the “like” for hidden content.

The not so Ugly….

Ok, I admit it. I used to be on the “Everyone Create Custom Landing Tabs” bandwagon; (Although I never thought it was the “biggest Facebook marketing error”) I was enamored with the idea of creating special tabs and pages within a Facebook page. That was two and a half years ago… then I succumbed to the Android Phone – and I became enamored with Facebook by phone… Simple Fact: you cannot see landing pages when you are using a mobile device.

“Ok so I shouldn’t have any special tab?”

NO!! Special Tabs and Apps can still be useful – you just cannot use them as a default landing page. You can still use it as a list generating tool (i.e. give your fans something free, like a special report or 10-step guide in exchange for their email!)

I Love the Facebook Timelines, I especially like how it displays on my cell phone (yeah HTC!). The Fcebook Timeline for Brands just takes some time to get used to – but the pictures are bigger, and for business pages you can highlight your most important posts! Check out this Video Guide that Facebook Made. Basically the best features are:

The ability to Choose a beautiful and branded cover

Provide a keyword rich and engaging description

Feature your most important apps (pick 3 as photos, will always come first)

Pin the post/status update to which you want to drive the most

Highlight great historical posts (Milestones!) by you and your fans

Hide or delete embarrassing, out of date, or negative posts by you and your fans

When you offer links to share your content online, rely on what we call the "Reason to Click" method: Don't ask your audience to click on a link, give them a reason to click on it, and let them decide whether they want to spend their time reading what you have to say during their social interaction with your company's digital content online. This will help increase your content marketing strategy by increasing social interaction with those that want to be social with your brand online

Your company’s goal in sharing your content online through links should be social interaction as well as to tell your audience something of value that leads them to think your link will help them, either personally or professionally, related to your brand . Give them the control they want, help them to start a social interaction with your branded content. Think of it this way, we all would prefer the option to do something to a direct command. When you give your audience a choice on whether your links to content online are valuable based on the information you provide, they are more likely to click through. This not only puts the right people in front of your content it also helps build trust and a solid relationship between your digital content and your audience.

Diversity is key, especially in your content marketing. There are many ways to make sure your followers see all of your content or content related to your company's branded content. This will also help create that social interaction we've been talking about throughout this post. You can set up an automatic publishing system so that the content from one website or blog feeds into another one. Remember, when you automate content in any way, this should not be a replacement for original content online posted to the feed. Your company’s Twitter stream will be more effective if you have original content mixed into your automatic feeds. This is also more personal and will give more credibility to your Brand's social media sites.

I don’t know about you, but I find the virus-epidemic movies thoroughly fascinating and engaging. I recently watched “Contagion”, while I cannot pretend to know anything about the medical aspect I think that it is still fascinating how the virus spreads…

But how does that apply to business? Have you heard the phrase “Viral Marketing”? Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands or millions

Viral marketing is a very clever tactic that was started by Hotmail in the late 90s. Hotmail attached an ad at the bottom of every email sent through them, promoting their “free” service to every email person who received an email from someone who was already using their service. You Tube is another early example of viral marketing success – everytime a video was (and is!) shared it will bring users back to YouTube and recommend other similar videos.

Seth Godin (one of my marketing role models) says this about Viral Marketing

Something being viral is not, in and of itself, viral marketing. Who cares that 32,000,000 people saw your stupid video? If It didn't market you or your business in a tangible, useful way.

Being viral isn't the hard part. The hard part is making that viral element actually produce something of value, not just entertainment for the client or your boss.

For a message to be viral-ready, it must be:

Relevant to the audience, as well as your product, service or promotion.

Focused on only one thing (e.g. focus on discount, rather than listing every item discounted).

Short and to the point.

Formatted for easy forwarding via many social networks and channels (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, text message). Providing the links to forward the message through these channels is a plus. Example: Send this article to Twitter

Risk-free for the reputation of the forwarder.

Also, the customer must stand to gain something by passing along the message, even if it is just the satisfaction of sharing a discount or a laugh.

Your first, or even your 50th, “buzz-worthy” message may not go viral -- and that's okay. Not every Facebook Status update or Tweet will be shared or even clicked on.

Think about ways you can spread your virus through traditional methods. Try something “old fashioned” like a punch card or a paper newsletter or a paper coupon that the person doing the referring on can write their name on… Or try a hybrid create a QR code with your message and have it printed up on postcards or business cards and leave them everywhere!

The biggest point is DO NOT GIVE UP if one message doesn’t work. Keep trying until you find something that strikes a chord with your audience. Remember, customers, like viral marketing, are unpredictable.

When I refer to “making blue oceans”, I am referring to strategy laid out in a book written by Harvard Professors, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, called Blue Ocean Strategy (go buy it from Amazon here).

The whole point of the book is to analyze how companies have battled head-to-head with each other for competitive advantage and market share. Every company wants to be the “big fish” within their market, however (as Blue Ocean Strategy authors put it)”competing head-on results in nothing but a bloody “red ocean” of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool.” Kim and Mauborgne argue that tomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by creating “blue oceans” of uncontested market space ripe for growth.

Red vs Blue

Red Oceans are all the industries (and niches) in existence today—the known market space. In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities or niche, and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody. Hence, the term red oceans.

Blue oceans, are all the industries that do not yet exist, the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set.

The cornerstone of Blue Ocean Strategy is 'Value Innovation'. Value Innovation is created when a company creates value simultaneously for both the buyer and the company. The innovation (in product, service, or delivery) must raise and create value for the market, while simultaneously reducing or eliminating features or services that are less valued by the current or future market.

Basically every industry, at one time, was a blue ocean. The key is figuring out how to be continuously innovative because all blue oceans will eventually turn red…

My marketing philosophy revolves around this concept! I believe that all businesses (that spend the time and effort) can create blue oceans. But this also hinges on the idea of challenging status quo – you cannot create a blue ocean by “staying safe” and sticking to the traditional marketing methods accepted by your industry.

“Wow. That’s different!” or “That’s not what I expected” need to be phrases heard frequently around your office! If every other Chiropractor/Staffing Agency/Plumber/Auto Mechanic/<insert your profession here> is running their marketing and business model the same, then you are trying to be the loudest in the crowd – imagine how much easier you could be heard if you were the only one shouting!

Many opponents to piracy believe that piracy hinders innovation. The thought is that if “ﬁrms know that their products will be pirated, they have no incentive to innovate. For ﬁrms piracy means indeed that they won’t get any “reward” for their innovation, and that as they are experiencing a smaller amount of sales, their revenues won’t cover the R&D expenses.” (Rayna, 2004) There is no doubt that piracy, in all forms, “has increased over the past years, [yet] the ﬁrms producing digital goods remain highly innovative. What’s more [these] types of ﬁrms certainly stand among the most innovative ﬁrms. For example, Microsoft, despite piracy, keeps releasing new software.” (Rayna, 2004)

What if the consequences of piracy are good in the long term?

Perhaps it can also be considered that one of the first acts of piracy of intellectual property was committed by one of the most innovative inventors in history, Johann Gutenberg and the printing press. “At the origin of the history of piracy thus lies one of the defining events of Western civilization.” (Adrian, 2009) According to Adrian (2009) “The history of piracy is the history of those transformations. Every time we ourselves buy a book, download a file, or listen to a radio show, our actions rest on it.”

Mason (2008) believes that “pirates, like offshore radio DJs, create periods of chaos and anarchy, but improve things for the rest of us by doing so.” Mason also considered free alternatives to be a form of piracy, and in the software market open-source technology is one example. Open-source software (Wikis, WordPress, Joomla, to name a few) have proven “to be just as effective as—and in many cases more effective than—free-market competition or government regulation when it comes to generating money, efficiency, creativity, and social progress.”(Mason, 2008)

From struggling musicians to movie executives, people in many industries already feel that their future is under fire from piracy. Bill Gates acknowledged this reality to a group of students in 1998. “Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, people don’t pay for the software,” said Gates to an audience at the University of Washington. “Someday they will, though, and as long as they’re going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. (Mason, 2008)

Mason(2008), Adrian (2009), and Rayna (2004) all agree that piracy inspires innovation. “Pirates are taking over the good ship capitalism, but they’re not here to sink it. Instead they will plug the holes, keep it afloat, and propel it forward. The mass market will still be here for a long while.” (Mason, 2008)

Nobody likes having something stolen from them, and essentially that is exactly what piracy is – theft. Merriam Webster (2012) defines piracy as “the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright ”. The two largest supporters of SOPA and opponents of piracy are the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Both of these organizations argue that “online piracy hold that it poses a serious threat to artistic and creative development in the world. They hold that piracy cuts into profits, reducing the amount of money an artist or programmer can expect to make, and therefore reducing the incentive for them to create new work.” (Wisegeek; 2012) The RIAA (2012) states;

It’s commonly known as “piracy,” but that’s too benign of a term to adequately describe the toll that music theft takes on the enormous cast of industry players working behind the scenes to bring music to your ears. That cast includes songwriters, recording artists, audio engineers, computer technicians, talent scouts and marketing specialists, producers, publishers and countless others. While downloading one song may not feel that serious of a crime, the accumulative impact of millions of songs downloaded illegally – and without any compensation to all the people who helped to create that song and bring it to fans – is devastating.

A study deemed by IRAA as “credible” estimates the “ANNUAL harm at $12.5 billion dollars in losses to the U.S. economy as well as more than 70,000 lost jobs and $2 billion in lost wages to American workers.” (IRAA; 2012)

Matt Mason, author of The Pirate’s Dilema, states that anyone one “who copies information without permission [by its definition] is a pirate”. (Mason, 2008 [video]) This means anyone who has ever searched Google Images and downloaded a picture without permission of the copyright or license holder is a thief. In a twist of irony, SOPA author, Representative Lamar Smith, could be one of the very people he is trying to prosecute. (Grandoni, 2012; Taete; 2012) In July of 2011 the website (which has since been redesigned) used a photograph as a backdrop in its design yet nowhere on the website was the photographer given credit. (Grandoni, 2012; Taete; 2012)

There has been a lot of internet chatter recently about two proposed bills; the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. (Gardner, 2012) According to supporters of the proposed legislation “the purpose of the bill is to give more power to U.S. law enforcement to fight the online selling of copyrighted materials (movies, music) and counterfeit goods (high end purses and drugs).” (Crabtree, 2011)

The biggest supporters of these bills are major music and movie labels, brand name manufacturers, drug companies, the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who all claim “it protects their intellectual property.” (Crabtree, 2011) These supporters believe the number of jobs and commerce that depends on the protection of copyrights and trademarks. (Crabtree, 2011)

Of Course there are several opponents to the proposed legislation, ironic or not, the biggest opponents of the bills happen to be the most innovative internet companies to date. Opponents include Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, Mozilla Corporation, the Wikimedia Foundation, and human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the ACLU, and Human Rights Watch. (Wikipedia, 2012; Crabtree, 2011; AmericanCensorship.org, 2012) On January 18th thousands of websites will “go dark” (AmericanCensorship.org; 2012) to participate in an online protest dubbed “American Censorship Day”. Those protests are set to begin at midnight on and will involve many of the participating homepages, such as Google, Wikipedia, and Reddit, will direct U.S. users to call their representatives and voice complaints. (Franzen, 2012; Gardner, 2012)

Supporters of this bill believe that they are helping to stop theft, however, many opponents believe that these bills are the most “most dangerous pieces of legislature ever to be written up for passage by the United States government in regards to innovation and the free market on a global scale” (Burns, 2012) Basically, the bill will give the US Government the right to block a website that they feel has material that is in violation of copyright infringement. This is aimed to “censor” (Burns, 2012; Dachis, 2012) content such as website that are considered to have links to pirated material. (Burns, 2012; Dachis, 2012)

However, one could still access the website that contains illegal material assuming they knew the IP address, or the string of numbers assigned to an individual website. Many opponents feel that this will only encourage government controlled censorship and limit free speech. (Burns, 2012; Dachis, 2012; AmericanCensorship.org; 2012) Mashable.com (2012) explains it this way;

Since copyright violation is ridiculously easy, any site with a comment box or picture upload form is potentially infringing. Furthermore, DMCA Safe Harbor provisions are no defense. You, as a site operator, become liable for copyright infringement committed by your users, even if you comply with DMCA takedown requests.

If you want your website to appear in search engines, do not use Flash. Flash pages don’t get indexed properly by search engines due to the fact that search bots simply can’t read Flash content. As far as the search engines are concerned, you might as well have a website that consists of a title, some meta tags, and no other content. It doesn’t matter how pretty your website is or how fluid the animations are if no one will ever find it.

Nowadays, Flash can even hurt your search rankings. Many search engines have begun blacklisting websites that have meta data unrelated to the website’s actual content, because such websites are regarded as being deceptive in their attempts to gain web traffic. As far as the search engines are concerned, Flash websites have keywords, but no content, which commonly results in blacklisting due to the perceived discrepancy.

Reason #2: Limited Mobile Viewing

As the iPhone, Blackberry, and other smartphones have skyrocketed in popularity and usage, more and more websites are being accessed on the go from mobile web browsers. But guess what? Most mobile web browsers have no Flash support, so they can’t display Flash websites at all. Those that can (in theory) are still limited by the memory and processing power of the mobile device and will often choke on Flash websites because of their increased bandwidth and CPU demands. ( More on bandwidth and CPU demands in Reason #10 below. )

Reason #3: No Linking or Bookmarking

Every page of a Flash website has the exact same web address, or URL. In other words, no matter which page you’re viewing on a Flash website, the URL is exactly the same. On normal websites, you can bookmark and link directly to specific pages using unique URLs. This makes it easy to find your way back or to share these pages with others. Without unique URLs, it’s impossible to bookmark pages, and you’d have to include click-by-click instructions to help someone else find their way to a specific page after sending them a link to your website.

Reason #4: No Back Button

Suppose someone is clicking their way through your website, finds themselves on a page they didn’t mean to click to, and decides they want to go back. This is where the back button comes in on a normal website. On a Flash website, the back button is either disabled altogether, or it will take them to the website they were viewing before yours! Eventually, they’ll have to figure out how to get back another way, such as by reloading the whole website and starting over. This is far from ideal and can seem quite inhospitable to your website visitors.

Reason #5: Poor Design Standards

The bells and whistles that come with Flash almost always result in gratuitous design abuse when it comes to websites. Successful webmasters understand that the Internet is a standards-based system. Navigation goes here, content goes there, a click does this, a drag does that, and so on. It’s a standard user experience that shouldn’t be re-invented on a whim. Most website visitors are annoyed by broken usability standards, and older or less experienced website visitors will often give up and leave. (More on usability failures in Reason #9 below. )

This isn’t to say that pushing design boundaries is always a bad thing. In fact, it’s the only way innovation can come about. But the ratio of “revolutionizing” design change to “senseless and gratuitous” design change leans far to the latter, and too many webmasters who try to create something unique and edgy only make their websites unusable as a result. Nowhere is this phenomenon more prominent than with Flash websites.

Reason #6: Content Loading…

On a normal website, content is instantly viewable as each page or image downloads to the web browser. On a Flash website, however, the entire website has to download before any part of it is viewable. This is the reason 99% of Flash websites start with a loading screen. Compare this to the old days of web video when you had to wait for the entire video to download before it would start playing. Nowadays, streaming video is the standard, because it allows the video to play instantly while it downloads. Flash is incapable of streaming, however, so Flash websites will always behave like the old, non-streaming videos that no one misses.

Reason #7: Splash and Intro Pages

Splash pages are those annoying intro screens that you often see before clicking “skip intro” or “enter here” to access the real website. Splash pages nearly disappeared a decade ago for their inherent uselessness, but – in a step backwards for web design and usability – many Flash designers have developed a unique dependency on them. Most often, splash pages are used to give visitors a choice between viewing the Flash or non-Flash version of a website. Putting aside the utter pointlessness of having two versions of the same website, this creates an extra and unnecessary hoop for your website visitors to jump through in order to get to your content.

Reason #8: Basic Text Functions Broken

On Flash websites, it’s impossible to make use of basic text functions like copy-and-paste, finding text, or changing text size to improve readability. There’s no right-click menu to facilitate these tasks, and keyboard shortcuts don’t work with Flash. Also, since the text displayed by Flash websites is unreadable by web browsers, visitors who depend on screen readers due to vision impairments might as well be staring at a blank screen.

Reason #9: Poor Usability Standards

Internet users are used to the standard web functions.

Clicking on a link marks the link as visited and takes you immediately to the page

Scroll bars act like the standard scroll bar on every other application

But more often than not, flash pages ignore these standards. Flash developers try to invent their own navigation methods, links are just areas you click on and don’t offer any clues that you have been there before, nor can you hover over a link to see where it will take you. Scroll bars invented over the weekend are made to replace the custom widget that has been in use for years and years. Web standards provide a better user experience than what most flash pages offer.

Reason #10: Bandwidth and CPU Demands

Flash websites can bring older computers to a crawl, and they can take much longer to load with sub-broadband Internet connections. While this may only affect a small portion of your intended audience, why alienate anyone by denying them a good experience while viewing your website? Remember that if it takes too long to load, or if it runs too slowly on their computers, visitors will often leave your website before they’ve even seen it.

Flash isn’t evil. It is a wonderful tool for designing widgets and games, and it is great for animations. The best video and audio players are flash. But it is not appropriate for websites.

I will leave you with one last idea. The company that makes and distributes flash, macromedia, does not have a flash based website. Wonder why that is?